He Gets That From Me
by aethra
Summary: Carly watches her son and remembers the love of her life
1. Chapter 1

A.N.: Ok, I started playing around with this when Sonny told Reese that Michael was the only one of his kids who would remember him well enough to miss him. The song is Reba McIntire's "He gets that from me."

The premise: Jason came back too late. Sonny and Reese were killed by Ruiz and his men. With proper medical treatment, Carly got better and is now raising her kids on her own. These are her thoughts as she looks at Michael.

Carly watches her son and remembers the love of her life.

_His early mornin' attitude  
You have to drag him out of bed  
Only frosted flakes will do  
He gets that from me  
Yeah, he gets that from me_

"Michael! You're going to be late for school now get moving," Carly called impatiently up the stairs for her older son. Morgan was already strapped into his high chair with a bowl of cereal in front of him. If Michael didn't hurry up he wouldn't have time for breakfast before they had to leave. She poured him a bowl of his favorite cereal but left off the milk - he wouldn't eat it once it got soggy so she never added the milk until he got to the table.

Carly looked across the table at her boys and fought off a sudden wave of tears. If Sonny were here there would be no sugary cereals for breakfast. She could almost hear him lecturing her, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Carly." "Why do you want to put junk like that into your body, Carly?" Then he would let her watch while he whipped up an omelet or whole wheat pancakes.

She forced a smile as Michael ran down the stairs and slid into his chair. "Eat up, Michael, we're already running late," she admonished pouring him a glass of orange juice and she setting both bowl and glass in front of him. She brought over the milk jug so he could pour it himself and then turned back to the counter to wipe down the sink while she waited for him to eat.

_His curly hair and his knobby knees  
The way the sun brings those freckles out  
Talk and talk never miss a beat  
Yeah, he gets that from me  
He gets that from me_

Despite his protests Carly checked Michael's seat belt once she was done strapping Morgan into his car seat. Closing that door, she slid into the driver's seat and started the car. One benefit of Carly's stay at Rose Lawn was the fact that she had finally confronted and overcome her fear of driving. After Sonny's death, when Carly found herself sole caregiver of two young children, she realized that she couldn't afford to be dependent on others for transportation. Now she was able to pick her son up from school herself, and she enjoyed it.

Carly glanced at Michael in the rearview mirror and realized that she had no idea what he was talking about. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't been paying attention to his rambling account of his day. He invariably told her every detail: what he had learned, with whom he had played, what he'd eaten for lunch. Anything and everything needed to be shared. It was refreshing after all those years of trying to drag even the slightest conversation from Sonny. Thankfully the boys who were now the center of her universe inherited at least that from her. Of course, now she was starting to understand why Sonny sometimes complained that her chatter gave him a headache. Even her patience had its limits.

She nodded and murmured an acknowledgement to whatever Michael was saying, hoping that she hadn't just agreed to letting him get his tongue pierced or something.

_He looks at me with those big brown eyes  
He's got me in the palm of his hands  
And I swear sometimes  
It's just like you're here again  
He smiles that little crooked smile  
There's no denying he's your child  
Without him I don't know what I'd do  
He gets that from you  
Oh, he gets that from you_

Carly settled down on the couch in front of the fire. She had just put Morgan to bed and Michael was playing up in his room. She smiled remembering his claim that he would be 'finishing his homework.' She knew better than that, knew she never should have allowed him to hook up video games in his bedroom, but she just had such a hard time saying no to him. Carly glanced at her watch, fifteen minutes before she needed to go upstairs and remind him to brush his teeth and get to bed. Worn out from the day, tired and missing Sonny, she decided to just relax for fifteen minutes rather than using them to pick up the toys Morgan had left scattered around the room. She had just closed her eyes when she heard a soft voice beside her, "Mom? Can I sit with you for awhile?"

She opened her eyes and looked at her boy, "Of course you can, sweetheart, always." As Michael sat down next to her and curled into her side, she brushed the hair off his forehead and smiled down at him. Moments like these were few and far between these days, Michael was really too old to cuddle. Since his father's death, however, he always seemed to know when she needed this. He would come to her and just sit pretending not to notice her tears, but making everything better just by being there. Carly wrapped an arm around him and squeezed his shoulder. "I love you, baby."

_How he loves your old guitar  
Yeah, he's taught himself to play  
He melts my heart  
Tells me he love me every day  
And cracks jokes at the perfect time  
Makes me laugh when I want to cry  
That boy is everything to me  
He gets that from you  
He gets that from you_

"I love you too, Mom," he answered.

After a moment Michael looked up and gave his mother a mischievous smile. "So since you love me so much, and I'm such a great kid and all, do you think that we could get a dog?"

Carly's impending tears at the sappy moment were choked off by her laughter, "A dog?" she sputtered. "No, we can't get a dog." She started to tickle him. "You are such a little con-artist. You think you can manipulate me into getting a dog. Uh-uh, Mr. Man, I ain't buyin' it." Hearing him shriek with laughter warmed her heart.

Carly was still laughing as she pulled him up off the couch and sent him upstairs to bed. "I was just asking," he protested with a grin as he started up the stairs.

"I'll be up in a few minutes to see that the lights are really out Michael," she called after him, smiling as she heard his grumble.

Carly looked into the dancing flames and whispered "Oh, Sonny, how did we end up with such a great kid? I know that it wasn't anything I did."

_Last night I heard him pray  
Lord, help me and mama make it through  
And tell daddy we'll be okay  
He said he sure misses you  
He sure misses you  
He really misses you  
He gets that from me_

Carly walked up the stairs a few minutes later to make sure that Michael had really gone to bed. She paused at his door when she saw him kneeling by the side of his bed. Carly had never been devout, Catholicism was really more Sonny's thing than hers. Because she knew Sonny would have wanted it she still made her boys go to mass every Sunday, but she had long since stopped checking to see that Michael said his prayers every night. Seeing him kneeling there she resolved to start teaching Morgan the words "Now I lay me down to sleep."

Then Carly heard Michael's words:

"God bless, Mom and Morgan and Kristina and Uncle Jason and Aunt Courtney and Aunt Emily. And please, God, I know that Daddy's in heaven with you so tell him not to worry about us. Mom and I are taking care of each other and Morgan, so we'll be okay. But tell him that we haven't forgotten about him and we still love him and miss him. Amen."

Carly hid in the shadows outside his door as she watched Michael climb into bed and turn off the lamp on his bedside table, leaving the room only dimly lit by the night light in the opposite corner. A moment later she walked casually into the room and bent over to kiss him on the forehead. "Goodnight, Mr. Man. I love you."

"Goodnight, Mom. Love you, too," he whispered.

Carly retreated down the hall to her own room and her big empty bed. As she had done every night since moving in to the house that she had never shared with Sonny, Carly changed into one of Sonny's shirts, she curled up with his pillow and imagined his arms around her. Wishing that the smell of his shampoo or aftershave might still linger there, Carly released the tears that she had held back all day. "Goodnight, Sonny. I love you," she wept.


	2. Wouldn't Be This Way

**"Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" - Leann Rimes**

_Got a date a week from Friday with a preacher's son  
Everybody says he's crazy  
I'll have to see  
_

I know, a preacher's kid, right? I can almost hear you laughing - it'll never work. But everybody says he's crazy, so I guess we'll be a perfect match, huh? I told you once that I wouldn't know what to do with a nice, normal guy; you were trying to push me away. You thought it was for my own good, that I'd be better off with someone nice and normal, someone who'd share his feelings and let me into his life. And I said that it would end up like when I was with Tony and I'd be lying to him all the time, trying to be someone I'm not. Do you remember that?

Well this guy's not like that. He's - actually he reminds me a little bit of you, and of me, I guess. He's been in trouble a lot, had a lot of problems, but now he's trying to turn his life around. He won't expect me to be perfect - hell, he knows a little about me so he won't even expect me to be rational. I think this could really work, Sonny.

_I finally moved to Jackson when the summer came  
I won't have to pay that boy to rake my leaves  
_

I moved out of the house; I guess you know that, huh? I decided that leaving Port Charles was best for all of us. I didn't go far; I couldn't, you know? I couldn't leave Mama or Mike, the kids need their grandparents. And Kristina, you should be proud of me Sonny. I've made sure that Michael and Morgan will know their sister. Not that Alexis would ever let them visit here, of course. But we meet up twice a month for 'outings.' Outings, can you believe it? That's Alexis's word. You know Alexis; she has to regiment every moment of that little girl's life. So we meet up at museums or art galleries or whatever. I bring Michael and Morgan and she brings Kristina and Molly. It's all very . . . civilized.

I still see a lot of Jason and Courtney, too. I need someone to keep me out of trouble, don't I? Jason's still keeping an eye on me, don't worry. But I thought a fresh start would be best for the kids, and for me. That I should go somewhere where no one knew my history, where I wouldn't have to constantly live down all of the things that I did wrong. I know that I've made a lot of mistakes over the years, Sonny, but I didn't want that to hurt our kids.

And this is a good place - you'd hate it, though. Suburban hell, right? But it's a nice, quiet neighborhood, with nice, friendly neighbors. Ok, so some days it really gets to me. There are days where I just want to scream the place down. I miss the city, the crowds and the clubs and just, would you believe that I miss the traffic? But I do.

It doesn't matter though, because the boys are happy here. Michael's playing soccer. And Morgan's in tee-ball. They have friends, and I can let Michael go out and ride his bike around the neighborhood without worrying about him. There are no bodyguards here, Sonny. No men with guns to guard our kids. We don't need them. But I'd trade all of it. I'd happily take back the guards and the guns if it meant that I could have you back too.

_  
I'm probably going on and on  
It seems I'm doing more of that these days  
_

_I probably wouldn't be this way  
I probably wouldn't hurt so bad  
I never pictured every minute without you in it  
Oh You left so fast  
Sometimes I see you standing there  
Sometimes it's like I'm losing touch  
Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much  
God gave me a moment's grace  
'Cause if I'd never seen your face  
I probably wouldn't be this way  
_

_Mama says that I just shouldn't speak to you  
Susan says that I should just move on  
_

The kids are at Mama's now. I always leave them with her when I come visit you; I guess I just like to think that you and I are getting a little time to ourselves. Bobbie - Mama, she really doesn't approve of my coming here. I guess she thinks it's morbid, maybe it is. I know she thinks that I need to move on, to let you go, and that talking to you all the time holds me back, but I still need this. I still need you, Sonny.

Sometimes, God, sometimes it's like I can feel you with me. You're so close I can almost touch you, and then I turn around and you're not there. And my heart breaks all over again. Sometimes I wish I'd never even met you, because nothing, nothing in my entire life, has ever hurt me this badly. We never even got to say goodbye, you know?

_  
You oughta see the way these people look at me  
When they see me 'round here talking to this stone  
_

I wish you could see these people, or, I don't know, maybe you can? Everyone who sees me here is always so sympathetic. Oh, poor Carly, the poor dear really isn't dealing well, is she? Bunch of hypocrites - they never liked either one of us. And I certainly don't need their damned sympathy now.

They probably go home and talk about how I brought this on myself getting involved with someone like you. They never got it, never understood how we could love each other. Neither one of us really deserved this, did we?

_  
Everybody thinks I've lost my mind  
But I just take it day by day  
_

I see it in their eyes, everybody's, even Mama's, sometimes even Jason's. They worry that I'll lose it again, that I'll fall apart. I guess that's not an unreasonable concern - I've never been what anyone would call stable. And that was before the love of my life was killed while I was in a mental hospital. So yeah, I guess that fear will always be there, but really, I'm ok now. So, you don't need to worry about me.

I learned a lot at Rose Lawn, Sonny. I've never really thanked you for taking me there, have I? Looking back now it's like that was your last gift to me. You couldn't have known what was going to happen but it was really for the best. They taught me how to live without you. And, yeah, maybe it will be like going through life with only half my soul, but I can do that now. I focus on me and on our kids and I just - I just live.

_  
I probably wouldn't be this way  
I probably wouldn't hurt so bad  
I never pictured every minute without you in it  
Oh You left so fast  
Sometimes I see you standing there  
Sometimes I feel an angel's touch  
Sometimes I feel that I'm so lucky to have had the chance to love this much  
God gave me a moment's grace  
'Cause if I'd never seen your face  
I probably wouldn't be this way  
_

And yeah, there are still times when I want to hate you. When I wake up at night and I'm alone, and I'm so lonely that I can barely breathe, yeah I try to hate you then. During those times I think that my life would be so much better if I'd never met you, never loved you.

But then I remember how wonderful it was to love you and be loved by you. We had good times, Sonny. Alright, our good times were few and far between, but when we were good - God, when we were good we were the very best. And I wouldn't trade the memories of those good times for anything in the world - not even for the chance to take this pain away.

_  
Probably wouldn't be this way_

Got A Date a week from Friday with a preacher's son  
Everybody says I'm crazy  
Guess I'll have to see

So, I guess what I'm trying to say, Sonny, is that I love you, and I always will. But I promise; I won't let that stop me from living.

I'll go out with this guy and see what happens. Maybe I'll even find love again someday. But it won't be the love that I had with you and I know that. So you and I will see each other again someday.

I have to go now, Sonny. The boys are waiting for me. I may not be back here for awhile, but that's ok. Because I know that you'll be with me wherever I am.

Carly Corinthos walked over and knelt beside her ex-husband's grave. She rested her hand for a moment on the cold stone and then she laid a simple white rose on the ground and walked away.


End file.
